Carlo Tresca was one of those revolutionary workers whose memory deserves to be honored and this excellent biography of him by Italian historian Nunzio Pernicone fulfill exactly this purpose. Pernicone is the same author who in the past published an excellent history of the Italian anarchist movement (in English the title was «Italian Anarchism: 1864-1892», which firstly published by Princeton University in 1993 and then by AK Press), but this work is equivalent interesting to anarchists and other radicals.

Carlo Tresca was the son of a middle class family and was born in Italy in 1879. He soon became a socialist and took an active part in the Italian Railway Workers' Federation before emigrating to the U.S.A. when he was 25 years old. Once arrived there he elected secretary of the Italian Socialist Federation of North America and participated actively in various class struggles. During this time his sympathy for social democracy transformed quickly into sympathy with trade unionism, as he soon realised the inherent reformism of social democratic ideas and the importance of immediate action to unionise.

Connected with the IWW, he took an active part in the strikes of Pennsylvania coal miners before been involved in several, important and often episodic strike and other activities. Gradually, his trade union beliefs led him to the adoption of anarcho-syndicalism and he became soon one of the leading anarchists in the U.S., particularly amongst the Italian-American community.

Nunzio Pernicone gives us a picture of a deep lively, vibrant and charismatic figure who played a catalytic role in many struggles for workers' rights.

He was also a prolific articles writer and publisher and edited the Italian-speaking anarchist newspaper «Il Martello» («The Hammer") for over 20 years. It was an excellent and passionate writer, propagandist and organiser as well. He was responding to any call for help in trying to encourage Italian workers to strike and fight back. He played a major role in numerous srikes including the victorious strike in Lawrence (1912), the textile workers' strike in Little Falls, New York (1912), the hotel workers' strike in New York (1913), the strike in Patterson, the silk workers' strike in New Jersey (1913) and the miners' strike in Mesabi Range of Minesota (1916).

Carlo Tresca played also an instrumental role in the unsuccessful struggle to salvation of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. Following World War I, Carlo Tresca turned his fire and efforts against fascism but also stalinist tyranny. He was the first and an ardent opponent of Italian fascism throughout USA. His activities have caused the same hatred of Mussolini and his regime, since Tresca played a key role (both politically and physically) in stopping the spread of fascism between the Italian-American community (this is why he suffered an assassination attempt against him in 1926).

Pernicone brings in great detail how helpful was the "democratic" American state to help fascist Italy by trying to expel Tresca of the country. He tells us also how Tresca sent a telegram to Mussolini on the birthday of the latter. Before emigrating to America, young Tresca had meet Mussolini (who was by then one of the leaders of left socialists in Italy), just to inform him that his stay in U.S.A. will turn (Tresca) in a real rebel. Well, Tresca’s telegram simply reminded Mussolini that he was absolutely right!

Unlike many other militants of that period, Tresca had no illusions about the Soviet Union. He realised that the Lenin regime smashed the real, authentic revolution in Russia and opposed the new "socialist" regime with the same courage that oppose fascism. During the 1920's, however, Tresca tried to work with all opponents of fascism, including even the communists (because he never doubted about the masses’ courage and admit of their willingness to fight against fascism). His efforts to form a single anti-fascist front, as well as the efforts of stalinists to put under their direct control such organisations recounted in detail by Pernicone amongst the pages the book we present here. These stalinist maneuvers, along with their counter-revolutionary during the Spanish Revolution and Civil War, made Tresca to intensify the struggle against leninism during 1930's until he finally opposed to any form of collaboration with the stalinists.

Tresca's struggle for freedom, equality and solidarity continued until his assassination at the age of 63 years. Although no one ever accused for murder, Pernicone presens us here a quite remarkable assessment of data and inter-conflicting theories (as suspects include the stalinists, fascists and the Mafia) before the designation by him of the member of the Mafia, Carmine Galante, as the murderer od Tresca.

This biography is the product of a work lasting more than 30 years. Pernicone shows in this magnificent work the advantages and disadvantages of this tireless and fearless champion of freedom and justice, Carlo Tresca. It's a very good book that not only brings to light the amazing story of Tresca, but also lots of aspects of the radical social movement of this era.

One thing that "hits" the reader is how sectarian was a significant part of the anarchist movement at the time. Because, part fascists and stalinists Tresca gathered also to his face the hatred of anti-organisational anarchists who a the time were following Luigi Galleani and who did not stop the taunts (much to the delight of the fascists during the decades 1920 and 1930). Even the letters of Errico Malatesta, Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman stood unable to stop these personal attacks.

A critical presentation of this book by Anarcho talks for almost a paronoia procedure that is currently developing by the anti-organizational anarchists (such as primitivists) which would allow such attacks. Therefore is important to learn some lessons from the past!

In conclusion, this book by Nunzio Pernicone is a very interesting contribution and we strongly recommend it to the readers. Tresca's memory should be honored today by all anarchist militants for freedom and equality. Pernicone has offered a great service to our movement by writing this biography of an unjustly forgotten pioneer of the struggle for freedom. Lets inspire our todays struggles!

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On May 30, 2014 we will be celebrating 200 years of Mikhail Bakunin (1814 – 1876), a famous activist of the Russian and international revolutionary movement, a social thinker and one of the founders of the international anarchist movement. [Français] [Русский]

Black Cat Press is pleased to announce the publication of "Revolution" by Carlo Cafiero for the first time ever in English (indeed nor has it ever been published as a complete volume in the original Italian!). The book brings what is certainly Cafiero's most complete, original work to English-speaking audiences for the first time. It is also an extremely important work in that it is one of the earliest attempts at compiling a complete theoretical view of the revolutionary ideal of anarchist communism. [Italiano] [Nederlands]

I’ve just come back from visiting the Kate Sharpley Library in California. Things have changed from the days when I could get there on the bus and we were buying our first filing cabinet. Lots of filing cabinets now, as well as boxes like the Left Bank Books archive. It’s good to look at the non-fiction shelves, seeing ‘old friends’ and new acquisitions.

Narratives of anarchist and syndicalist history during the era of the first globalization and imperialism (1870-1930) have overwhelmingly been constructed around a Western European tradition centered on discrete national cases. This parochial perspective typically ignores transnational connections and the contemporaneous existence of large and influential libertarian movements in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. Yet anarchism and syndicalism, from their very inception at the First International, were conceived and developed as international movements. By focusing on the neglected cases of the colonial and postcolonial world, this volume underscores the worldwide dimension of these movements and their centrality in anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggles. Drawing on in-depth historical analyses of the ideology, structure, and praxis of anarchism/syndicalism, it also provides fresh perspectives and lessons for those interested in understanding their resurgence today.

The Nestor Makhno Archive has now been updated, with the addition of over 70 new documents in Arabic, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, English, French, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Macedonian, Russian, Spanish and Ukrainian.

We do not see Bakunin as a god who never made mistakes. Of course he was not perfect. was a man, but a man who gave his all for the struggle of the oppressed, a revolutionary hero who deserves our admiration and respect. “From Bakunin, we can learn much about revolutionary activism. We can learn even more about the ideas needed to win the age-old fight between exploiter and exploited, between worker and peasant, on the one hand, and boss and ruler on the other. The greatest honor we can do his memory is to fight today and always for human freedom and workers liberation.”

This article, excerpted from a talk by Lucien van der Walt, co-author of Black Flame: the revolutionary class politics of anarchism and syndicalism, covers key elements of anarchist and syndicalist history, including its role in Asia, Africa and Latin America, its impact on unions and anti-colonial struggles, and its historical centrality.

This is the text of a talk given by Michael Schmidt, co-author with Lucien van der Walt of the book Black Flame: the Revolutionary Class Politics of Anarchism and Syndicalism (AK Press, USA, 2009), at the DIRA bookstore in Montréal, Canada, on 18 March 2010, as part of his Black Flame tour of Canada. Thanks to Marie-Eve Lamy of Lux Éditeur, Montréal, for the transcription.